Geometrically finite amalgamations of hyperbolic 3-manifold groups are not LERF

Abstract

We prove that, for any two finite volume hyperbolic $3$-manifolds, the amalgamation of their fundamental groups along any nontrivial geometrically finite subgroup is not LERF. This generalizes the author's previous work on nonLERFness of amalgamations of hyperbolic $3$-manifold groups along abelian subgroups. A consequence of this result is that closed arithmetic hyperbolic $4$-manifolds have nonLERF fundamental groups. Along with the author's previous work, we get that, for any arithmetic hyperbolic manifold with dimension at least $4$, with possible exceptions in $7$-dimensional manifolds defined by the octonion, its fundamental group is not LERF.